Launch of platform as council urges ‘save time, do it online’

Ben O’Connell

A new online service is promising to save time for Northumberland residents and as much as £300,000 annually for the council.

My Northumberland Account is a free, interactive, and secure online customer portal which makes it easy for residents, landlords and businesses to do their council tax, housing benefits and business rates online.

By signing up at northumberland.gov.uk/MyAccount, users will be able to view their bills, check their statements, review their payment history and check their eligibility for things like housing benefit and council-tax discounts.

Business owners and landlords can conveniently group together all of their bills and payment schedules and because the website is optimised to run smoothly on smartphones and tablets, the service can be used at any time, in any place.

Every year the council deals with more than 200,000 telephone and face-to-face interactions and has print and postage costs in excess of £300,000.

As an incentive, the council is now offering the chance to win an iPad for anyone who registers for a free account before March 31.

Coun Grant Davey, leader of Northumberland County Council, said: “The customer platform is another important step in our commitment to a digital future at the county council.

“This is a sophisticated service which is going to save people time and effort, making their important information available to them 24/7, on almost any device, in a way that is secure and confidential.

“There will be environmental benefits, thanks to the use of a paperless system, and another benefit could be reduced waiting times for people who prefer to handle their council tax and benefits in person.

“We have set ourselves some ambitious targets for getting as many people signed up as we can and we believe that once people have taken the opportunity to explore the platform they will never look back.”